


Immortal

by Ischa



Category: Adam Lambert (Musician), Bandom, Kris Allen (Musician)
Genre: Community: kradamadness, Crossover, M/M, Sexual Content, Supernatural Elements, Vampires, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-10
Updated: 2012-09-10
Packaged: 2017-11-14 00:03:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/509203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ischa/pseuds/Ischa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Adam is a vampire and Kris is immortal. </p><p>
  <i>“Is he dead?” Kris asked and his voice was barely a whisper. He wasn't even sure he wanted Adam dead. But death deserves to be repaid in kind. And Adam had killed Kris.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Immortal

**Author's Note:**

> First written as a comment – fic for kradamadness. It obviously got out of hand.  
> Beta by the lovely saar_fantasy.

~1~  
The last thing Kris saw before he died was Adam's face.

The first thing he saw when he woke up the night of his death was Katy.

“Thank god, I wasn't sure you would pull through,” she said.

Kris had a headache from hell, but that was nothing compared to the disappointment in Adam he felt right now. “I'm okay.”

“You are so obviously not,” she answered, putting her tools aside.

“Don't give me that, okay? Not now.” He sat up and she grabbed his hand, squeezed gently. Her pity was even worse than the disappointment. He had been so sure that Adam wouldn't kill him. He had been so sure. Well, served him right then.

“I was so worried, Kris. People don't usually survive a vampire feeding on them. Not even people like us. There was barely any blood inside you when Jared found you.”

“Did he go after Adam?” Kris had no illusions. He was sure everyone knew by now.  
Katy looked away. It was answer enough. “Is he dead?” Kris asked and his voice was barely a whisper. He wasn't even sure he wanted Adam dead. But death deserves to be repaid in kind. And Adam had killed Kris. It didn't matter that Adam didn't know that Kris was immortal, could be immortal. Whatever.

“I don't know. Jared isn't back yet. But if he found Adam, it's pretty likely. You know that, Kris. Death is paid by death.”

Kris wanted to argue because he wasn't dead anymore. He was alive. He was immortal, but he had died and that was all that mattered. “He didn't have to kill you,” she added softly.

“He didn't.”

“He doesn't care, Kris. Not for you, not for anybody. He's-” he squeezed her hand and she bit back the words.

A monster, Kris' mind supplied nevertheless. “I know.”

She gave him a look, because she knew him best. He couldn't bullshit her. “You do know, but it doesn't change how you feel about him.”

He shrugged. It would take time, but he would get over it and if Jared found Adam, then there was nothing to be done anyway. Jared was a badass hunter. Nothing supernatural and evil was a match for him. “I have the rest of my life to forget about him,” he said.

Katy sighed. “Just don't do anything stupid.”

“Like what? Killing myself after Jared brought me here, after you spent God only knows how many hours saving my life? Give me some credit, Katy.”

“You love him.”

Kris did. But what did it matter? It was more than obvious that Adam didn't feel the same way.  
“I'll get over it. That's what sane people do.”

“Oh Kris,” she hugged him and he rested his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes, breathing her in.

~+~  
“You're back early,” Beckett said. He wasn't even looking at Adam. He didn't need to.

Adam was not in the mood. “Fuck off.”

Beckett laughed. “You've been horrible company for days now, Adam.” There was an emphasis on his name Adam didn't like. He looked at William who was sitting on the ugly green couch. You could see every spilled drop of blood on that thing. It was the reason William kept it around. Adam doubted Beckett's sanity on some nights and he was pretty sure William knew that and didn't care. He didn't need to. He was king of Chicago. Insane or not, authority was authority. As long as Beckett's insanity didn't bring danger to the clan he would stay king.  
“Someone should stake you and end your misery,” Beckett added, getting up.  
Adam stood his ground. Beckett had the eternal body of a 20 year old kid, looking even younger, but he was old. So very old. It showed sometimes in his eyes. He smelled weakness like a shark blood.

Adam raised an eyebrow. “You won't.”

“I said someone.” Beckett looked at him hard. “You're _bored_.”

Adam nodded. It didn't make sense to lie now. He was bored. He was bored out of his mind. “Yeah.”

“You need to find yourself a hobby. And I don't mean seducing every boy that so much as looks at you, Adam. That can get boring pretty fast.”

“A hobby? What? Should I start painting now in a shabby attic apartment?”

“If it would make you happy.”

It wouldn't. Adam doubted that there was anything left besides blood that would make him happy. And the sweet release of blood only lasted as long as Adam was drinking it. And if that was what eternity would look like from now on, Adam wasn't sure he wanted to face it.  
William ran a knuckle over Adam's cheek. Once upon a time that simple gesture would make Adam shiver and William would lean in and they would kiss and bite and probably fuck on that ugly couch.

“There is nothing,” Adam said.

William snatched his hand back. “You know what kind of people talk that way? Insane people, suicidal people.”

“I'm not.”

“Insane? You're not, but I'm not sure about the suicidal part.”

“I did feed,” Adam answered.

“I know. You're leaving corpses all over the town. You're sloppy.”

“I just don't-”

“What?” William demanded and Adam was so tired of it all.

“Care. I just don't care. This is it. This is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life and my life is eternal.” I'll be bored for eternity, he thought. It was a frightening prospect.

William sighed. He looked like a kid when he did that. He bit his lip until it bled and shook his head. “I don't want to lose you,” he said. “It would be such a waste.”

“That makes me feel so much better,” Adam said.

“Don't even try, Adam,” William answered. “Maybe you need to get out of Chicago.”

“Maybe,” Adam said, but he didn't think a fresh location would bring any – whatever he needed right now.

“You could write a book,” William said. “On an island.”

“I'm not the island type of vampire.”

William smiled. “Probably not.” He leaned in and kissed Adam's cheek. His lips were cold against Adam's skin. Warm from human blood. Pulsing and alive in his veins. “You need to go anyway.”

“What?”

“There is this guy looking for you. All over the town. He means business.”

“I'm sure I can take him.”

“You're a danger to yourself, so you're a danger to the clan, Adam.”

“There's something you're not telling me.”

“Lots of things,” William answered.

Adam grabbed his wrist and William let him. “Bill.”

“You know nothing is truly immortal. We can be killed. Other supernatural species can kill us-”

“Werewolves, I know. They aren't immortal and we can smell them, so-”

“Shut up and listen. There are other immortals. We don't know much about them. They're a rare breed. Most vampires think they're not even real. We don't know how to kill them, but they know everything about us. You can't smell them out. There is nothing extraordinary about them. They look human, they smell human, they are human for all that we know, they just can't be killed.”

“First time I'm hearing about that.”

“The world always consists of sceptics and true believers, Adam. I'm warning you.”

“And you think that guy that is after me is one of those mystical creatures? Next thing you're telling me unicorns are real.”

“I don't care if you believe me. I am your king. You will leave Chicago.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow. Your things are packed. Your tickets bought.”

 

~2~  
Beckett was the bane of Adam's existence.

He hadn't seen Beckett for over fifty years and it had been a fleeting moment back then. A blood flavoured, hungry kiss before the night swallowed Beckett again. Adam hadn't been angry anymore, wasn't angry anymore. 160 odd years would do that to a person. But since Beckett discovered cell phones nothing was holly anymore. Especially not Adam's sleep.

“It's three in the morning where I am,” Adam said grumpy. Adam didn't even know where Beckett was right now.

“Shouldn't have picked up then.”

He should have just switched his phone off. “What do you want?”

“Did you hear that song?”

Adam was very tempted to ask what the hell Beckett was on about again, but he knew. Beckett had been obsessed with that Jared guy for decades now. And 'Night of the hunter' didn't make things better. “Yes.”

“It's not like anyone believes in vampires these days, but singing about how to kill us is still-”

Adam cut in. “I need my sleep. No one believes in vampires anymore as you just said and you can't kill a rockstar.”

“Who says I can't? People did that before. Humans did that before. I can do whatever the hell I please.”

“Not when he's living in my city.”

“Now you're playing being king of LA?”

“I am king of LA, Beckett,” Adam reminded him. It was too early for this kind of conversation. But then there never was a good time for Beckett's insanity.

“Call me William, you. We go way back after all.”

“Beckett. Did you call to make sure I keep an eye on that Leto guy?”

“Yes. Because he is immortal.”

Adam still hadn't seen proof of that, but Beckett had been sure enough 160 years ago to make Adam leave, so Beckett got the benefit of the doubt.

“He's not doing anything sinister.”

“That's their thing, Adam. They are the good guys. The good immortals. Not like us. We are the monsters.” William's voice sounded wistful, but Adam really didn't want to know. He had his own problems. He still didn't have the king business down, but then he was king of LA only for seven years now. It would grow on him. At least that was what Beckett kept saying.

“Do you miss being human?” Adam asked. He sometimes missed being human. Or maybe he just missed the idea of being human.

“No,” Beckett answered. “I like not being fragile and I like being young for eternity.”

“What about the killing?” Adam asked.

There was a lot of silence on the other side of the line. Adam wondered if he had gone too far with that one. It wasn't proper vampire etiquette to talk about feeding habits. But Adam always thought that was bullshit.

“You don't have to kill them,” Beckett said.

“Yeah,” Adam answered. The thing was, you had to care to let them live.

“Did you find yourself a hobby? I forgot to ask the last time we saw each other.”

“That night in Prague?” Adam wanted to know.

“Yes, that night in Prague, Adam.” There was that exasperated emphasis on Adam's name again. He missed Beckett.

“I don't have time for hobbies. I am a king now.”

“Don't let it go to your head. It's not all rainbows and blood-orgies.”

Adam nearly rolled his eyes. He hated politics. How had he even been made king in the first place? How could the council think it was a good idea? Maybe no one else wanted that job.  
“I know. I deal with you and your rockstar murder-plans, don't I?”

“I'm on the good side of insane, Adam.”

“I will keep an eye on that singer.”

“Find yourself a hobby, Adam. It keeps you sane.”

“Yours is clearly making my life hard.”

Beckett laughed and hung up on him without another word.

 _Bastard_ , Adam thought.

~+~  
Kris was strumming his guitar in Jared's living room, looking outside into the garden, through the big French windows.  
Jared was on a break from hunting evil things down. A few years making music would do him some good. Their people always liked music.

“I'm glad you came,” Jared said, setting a beer down in front of Kris on the floor.

“I'm not sure I like LA,” Kris admitted. It was so different from home and people here were so self-centred.

“It will grow on you. And besides, you can't stay too long in one place.”

“I like Arkansas. I will go back in a few years.” He played a few notes of 'Down by the riverside' and then took a swig of his beer.

“You should do something with that guitar and voice of yours. Something big.”

“Nah,” Kris shook his head. “I don't need the spotlight.”

“It's not that. It would be good for you to do something for yourself. To do something selfish.” He looked at Kris meaningfully.

Kris shrugged. “I like helping people.”

“It's like a compulsion to you. Katy said you're thinking about taking off to India and you just came back from the jungle. I like that you're helping people, but I'm not sure it's not because you feel somehow guilty for what happened with that Adam guy.”

Kris bit his lip. It wasn't that he was punishing himself for loving someone like Adam. At least he didn't think that. “I like helping people and I can't get sick when I help them. Not like normal people.”

Jared nodded. “Do you still love him?”

Kris peeled the label from the bottle to have something to do. The guitar was digging into his stomach. Somehow it made him feel centred. He did. It was ridiculous, but some part of him still did love Adam. But maybe it was only the memory of how Adam's hands felt against his skin or how his laugh lit up a room. His eyes, Kris though, maybe it was all about the piercing blue of his eyes. Maybe he was messed up and Jared was right, he was running away to places he would never ever meet Adam by chance.

“Maybe,” he answered. “Do you still want to kill him?”

“I'm on a year long and deserved break from killing monsters,” Jared said, which wasn't the same as not wanting to kill Adam.

Kris took another sip from the bottle. “Did you find him?”

“Kristopher,” Jared said. “What would it matter?”

“I don't know. I don't know what the heck is wrong with me. Maybe I'm just a sucker for pretty eyes.”

“He's king of LA now. I'm keeping tabs on all vampire kings. It's easier than it used to be.”

Adam was in LA. When he was king of LA he had to be here, except he had someone he trusted enough to look after the city. Kris knew new kings stayed in the city at least for the first 20 years, though.  
“To take them out,” he made himself say.

“When need should be, yes. It's in their nature to feed. I don't have a problem with that. Mistakes happen, but some of them aren't just vampires, some of them are monsters.”

“I know in what category Adam is.”

“Immortality isn't for everyone. But strangely enough he doesn't suck too bad at being king of LA. It's mostly a good place for humans and all kinds of supernatural beings. As long as LA stays the way it is I won't hunt him down. And that is the only thing that keeps me from ripping his heart out.”

“So he better take the king business seriously, hmmm?” Kris smiled.

“Why can't you just find a nice person to fall in love with for all eternity?” Jared mused.

Kris shrugged. He wished it was that easy. He wouldn't ask Jared for Adam's address. He wouldn't even hope for their paths to cross. He would stay here and think about if he should run away to India or not.

 

~3~  
Kris did date other people, back in the day when it wasn't really called dating. When there hadn't been anything casual about it. When every move and every word meant something. When you met the parents before you could even hold someone's hand. He had fallen in love with quite a few girls and boys, but it had been always easier to be with boys, because you couldn't 'dishonour' them or whatever.

Kris always only fell for mortals. It was like his heart was sabotaging his love-life. Relationships with mortals could never ever work. Kris didn't age, he didn't get sick. He didn't die. There was only one way to kill his people and only his people knew how. Humans noticed if you were stupid enough to stay longer than you should. That was partly why Kris went on missions.

Sometimes he resented Adam for killing him. If he hadn't, Kris would be dead by now. If his people died of old age or natural causes, they stayed dead. Only the violent deaths got a change at eternity. Like something inside them tried to make it right again. Gave them a second chance to live to the fullest, or at revenge. Kris wasn't interested in revenge. Never had been.

At times, for years he could be perfectly happy with someone, or alone in the jungle helping people, saving lives and then out of nowhere something would remind him of Adam and Kris would be angry again. At Adam and at himself for believing in Adam.

Adam was what he was. Feeding on blood and killing people for it was in his nature. It was the core what people identify as vampire. Everything else was just fiction and half-truths. Lies.

Vampires came in all kinds of shapes and religious believes. Sunlight didn't burn them, silver didn't hurt them and a stake didn't kill them. (Staking was a metaphor for them for God's sake.)  
They had to be taken apart, the body had to be burned, the ashes scattered. The heart buried or burned separately. Jared always burned everything. What was ashes couldn't be brought back.

His people were keeping the balance, he supposed. If it got too bad, hunters of his kind would take the evil things out. No questions asked, no remorse felt.

After Kris had died he had had a lot of time to think and he had realised that Adam had been bored back then. Endlessly bored. With life, with the city, with humanity. With Kris. He probably didn't even remember Kris.

For Kris, Adam had been an endless source of surprise. When they had met Kris hadn't known that Adam was a vampire. He figured it out, because his people just knew these things. He had been warned.  
It hadn't mattered to Kris back then, because Adam had been Kris' first real love. And at times it had bordered on obsession.

For Adam, Kris had been the flavour of the week – in every sense of the word too. It had hurt to face that.  
Kris was over all this. Mostly. He could live a normal life – as far as it was possible for his people – and be happy. One day he would even stop running away.  
That day was not today.

Kris stopped dead on the pavement and stared for a few heartbeats. He stared at Adam drinking coffee and laughing with the girl on the other side of the counter. He stared at the hand with the dark purple nails and at those lips and then he got a fucking grip, turned and marched back to Jared's place to get drunk and play the guitar.

~+~  
Adam wasn't the kind of vampire, the kind of person, that got haunted by the ghosts of his kills. Beckett kept saying that was because Adam never truly cared enough about his victims to remember them. Which was undeniably true.

Adam had toyed and played games with some of the humans, because it had lessened the boredom. Mostly for two to three days. A week tops.  
Adam couldn't remember all the faces of the men and women and children, because he had been that kind of monster (most vampires were) he murdered and it was a good thing too.

The boy staring at him from the other side of the street threw Adam off. People staring at him wasn't anything knew for him. He got stared at by humans for one reason or other and by supernatural beings for being king of LA. He knew these kind of looks. Knew not to acknowledge them, knew how to deal with adoration and fear and desire.

The glimpse he got at the boy when he turned had been disbelieve and anger, probably. And that was new. There weren't humans alive to be angry at Adam. Adam always, always had killed while feeding, still killed when feeding on real, warm human blood. Less often now, but he just didn't have the time to hunt these days. Being king of a city like LA was time consuming.

Adam couldn't remember pissing off anyone with a human companion either. And human companions weren't common amongst the long-lived species anyway. They were so easily broken, so easily killed. They were a weakness for your enemies to exploit. To vampires they were mostly food, if they choose to kill or not. No sane vampire would get involved with a human if they didn't want to turn them. And Adam knew all about those humans. He was king of LA. People needed his approval to make a vampire. It was a long complicated process and only 5% got the okay. Adam hated the paperwork. In his time as king only two new vampires were made. Adam was very strict and rule book about it.

So why had this boy been staring at him while he was buying his coffee? Something was tingling at the back of his mind. A memory, a shred of one, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He decided he would deal with this when it should become a problem. It didn't seem to be one now. Besides Adam was a vampire and he didn't get any supernatural vibes from that boy on the other side of the street. He was no threat

 

~4~  
Adam shoved another pile of papers aside and put his head in his hands. He needed to fire his assistant and secretary. They were idiots. Idiots with bleeding hearts. He had 70 applications on his desk that shouldn't even have made it to his desk in the first place.  
There was a certain delight in putting a big fat red 'denied' stamp all over it. Still, all this took his time away from other matters.  
He grabbed his phone and called Beckett.

“I need at least two of your minions,” he said as soon as Beckett picked up. Beckett had excellent minions. Beckett had minions that kept Chicago running while Beckett was touring the world.

William laughed. “Why?”

Beckett was a jerk, Adam decided again. “Because I need to fire mine. They are idiots with bleeding hearts. I have fifty applications that don't even fulfil the first requirement. The easy one. The 'are you at least 10 years with the person you want to make a vampire?'. That one. Fifty. Because all other requirements were met. What the all loving fuck? There is a reason why this one is the first and everything else is second to that. And I have 27 that have humans over 40? Why the hell even bother? Everyone knows that these won't get approved.” He sighed. When he had been turned there hadn't been any rules to follow. But back then they were feared and hunted down. A good portion of fledglings killed themselves, because they couldn't deal. These days there needed to be regulations. At least the suicide rate was way lower now. Mental stability was a must to pass the applications. They had shrinks for that.

“I can't give you Spencer. Or Ryan.”

“Give me someone who learned the trade under Ryan. I need more time to deal with the important stuff.”

“I hear you're pretty ruthless about making new vampires,” Beckett said.

“I swear we haven't had that many since Anne Rice. This whole Twilight stuff messes with my free time. I didn't feed on humans in months.”

“You do sound pissed off.”

“I am pissed off, Beckett. Please send me at least one of your qualified and ruthless minions so I can spend my time doing more important things than reading freaking applications and putting big fat red 'denied' stamps on them. Most of these people are kids. Not older than 20! I'm tempted to tell them to not even fucking try in another 10 years again.”

“You can have Tommy and Emilie. They are both very good at what they're doing,” William said.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome. You know you were always my favourite.”

“Aww, you sweet-talker. When can they be here?”

Beckett laughed. “Two days? I don't know, I need to ask them first. But Emilie is bored with Chicago anyway and Tommy and Spencer don't get along too well, so.”

“Great. Buy them a house, book a flight. So I can fire these idiots working for me. How did the last king even put up with this?”

“He had been...madly in love with humanity.”

Thank god that one wasn't Adam's problem. “Can't happen to me.”

“I know,” Beckett answered.

“Gonna hang up now and go to find something to eat. Let me know if they should need a ride from the airport.”

“Will do, Adam,” Beckett said and hung up.

Adam leaned back in his chair and stretched. At least one worry less.

~+~  
Kris had a split second to feel afraid and then his head slammed into the brick wall. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to take the eerie dark backside ally. On the other hand, Kris couldn't die. Kris wasn't afraid of anything anymore. Immortality did that to a person. He was still careful, because being declared dead in one place meant a lot of hassle. And Kris just began to like LA.  
He opened his eyes and stared. The grip around his upper body and chin was hard. He couldn't move. His kind of immortality didn't come with any super powers.

“It's nothing personal,” Adam said. “Just a case of wrong place, wrong time.”

Kris wanted to laugh. What the all loving hell? He had suspected that Adam wouldn't remember, but it was still a slap to the face. Adam sank his teeth into Kris' skin and Kris balled his hands to fists on his sides. He waited for his heart to stop and the blissful nothingness of unconsciousness.  
When he woke up it was still night. It took mostly 10 to 20 minutes for his body to come back online again from a 'death'. At least no one had found him and Adam was still sloppy in hiding his kills. Or maybe people were on their way here already to clean up the mess. He needed to get home. He needed to teach Adam a fucking lesson.

“You look like death warmed over,” Jared said. And it was supposed to sound casual, but it didn't.

Kris wasn't about to lie, not to Jared. “Adam killed me.”  
Jared got up and hugged Kris in the middle of the living room. Kris was shaking. He didn't even realise how badly that affected him. He took a deep breath and Jared didn't ask if he was feeling okay. Because it was obvious he wasn't. “He didn't remember. He said I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“He's a jerk and I swear if he weren't such a good king I would have his heart by now. Just for doing this to you again.”

“I know,” Kris answered and let slowly go of Jared. “I know. But he is a good king. I read your file on him. Not much love left for humanity. Or any other species for that matter. It's like he doesn't even live. He just exists.”

“I'm not liking were this is going,” Jared said.

“I have a plan,” Kris answered. He had made up his mind on his way back here.

“I hope it involves you getting the first flight to India and staying there for the next 20 years.”

Kris smiled. “You would miss me.”

“I would, but it would be better for your sanity. Hooking up with a nice Indian girl would be good for you.”

Kris nodded. It would be good for him, but he didn't think he could see another person he loved die. It always hurt so fucking much. Leaving did too. “I'm staying.”

“You can't change people.”

“No, but you can make them see things in a different light,” Kris answered and then they would operate on the changed perspective.

“He is not a good person. He doesn't care for people.”

“He does, at least in an abstract way. He does. He wouldn't be such a good king if he wouldn't care. He cares for the people in his district. As a collective.”

“And you want to use that as an in to make him care about one individual.”

“I want to make him care about me,” Kris said, because he was selfish like that.

 

~5~  
Kris wouldn't call it stalking. No matter what Jared said. Jared did stalking for a living or something. So he had no room to talk anyway.  
Kris needed to get a feeling for his subject. He needed to find out who Adam really was. And he needed to do that without lingering tender feelings attached. Or at least try to be professional about it. Kris never wanted to become a hunter, but if you were friends with Jared and Katy you had to pick up a thing or two.

Adam didn't make it hard either. He was out and about and he wanted to be seen. Kris didn't follow him into the clubs he was dancing the nights away in, because that just wasn't Kris' scene. Kris liked bars and open-mic nights. Adam liked sweaty bodies and a pounding bass that sounded like a giant's heartbeat.  
Adam fed roughly once every two weeks on real human blood. He always killed them. What Kris gathered from Jared, most vampires didn't drink from humans. At least not those that were turned after 1950. It seemed like a shift in human and vampire mentality. Blood-bags were all the rage. Adam was older. Adam didn't care. And Adam was king. It was his right. He fed on women and men, young and old, homeless, tourist, driftwood and prostitutes. No one who would really be missed. Kris wondered what had given him away. Wondered if Adam had followed him from the bar. Wondered if Adam had been in the bar that night. Keeping to the shadows. Stalking Kris' every move.  
Wondered if part of Adam did remember. Had found Kris strangely compelling, his face familiar in a way he couldn't explain.  
Maybe Kris would have the chance to find out.

After weeks of observation he made sure to catch Adam's eye as he slipped out of the bar. He didn't hurry, he knew Adam would go after him.

It must have driven Adam crazy that they hadn't found Kris' body all these weeks ago. He heard Adam's footsteps behind him and turned into a dark side-alley. It wouldn't be good to do this in public. He leaned against the wall and waited.

~+~  
Adam was absolutely sure the boy who looked at him as he left the bar was the same he killed weeks ago. The only reason he could remember was because they didn't find a body. His clean up crew came back empty handed. And then there was the thing that the boy had been strangely passive, strangely silent, but still angry. And he hadn't tried to get away.  
Adam left his merry gang of new minions and the bar to follow.  
It was obviously a trap. The boy wanted Adam to follow him, but Adam was king of LA. He was fast, vicious, ruthless. He could deal with whatever people were throwing at him.  
When he turned into the alley, the boy was waiting for him.  
He was leaning casually against he wall, eyes trained on Adam's face. People didn't look like that at Adam. Humans didn't look like that at Adam.

“You have a death-wish,” Adam said, because there was no way this guy didn't know what Adam was.

“No, Adam, I don't.” He said Adam's name like they knew each other. A bit tender, a bit pissed off.

Adam was in his space in a flash. “I think you do. You wanted me to follow you here. And you knew what I am while you did it.”

The guy nodded. “I wanted to talk.”

Adam laughed. “I don't talk to my meals. Sane people don't do that.”

“You used to,” he answered.

“Well, I don't anymore,” Adam said and bit down. He drained the boy and listened to his heart stopping. And then he leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. Made sure the guy was really dead. He scooped him up and dumped him in the back of his car. He would clean up this one on his own.

He parked the car a good half an hour later, got out, opened the door and took a step back. The boy was sitting up and looking at him. “You can't kill me, Adam.”

It irritated the hell out of Adam when people knew his name and didn't offer theirs in return.  
“We will see about that,” Adam snapped and pulled him out of the car. Adam could hear the guy's heart beating. He was alive. No mistake their and he looked healthy. Not like he just lost all his blood 30 minutes ago.

“You can try. I can't die,” the guy said. He had the nerve to shrug. Adam pulled him close and snapped his neck. He wasn't hungry anymore, but he would be damned if he didn't try.

He let the body slide to the ground and leaned against the car. He waited and seven minutes later the boy opened his eyes again. He sat up. “How many times do you want to try this?” he asked.

Adam crossed his arms over his chest. “You can't die.”

“I can't die.”

“I could just grab you and chain you down in my basement and feed on you whenever the hell I wish.”

The boy's eyes got huge for a second and then he got up. “I wouldn't try if I were you.”

“Why not? Who's going to stop me? I could make you like it too,”Adam said.

The guy's eyes got hard. “I doubt it. And as for who is going to stop you, well Jared still wants to rip your heart out and scatter your ashes.”

Adam looked at him then. Really looked. Maybe Beckett wasn't crazy after all. Maybe he had been right. Maybe there was another kind of immortal being. A good kind. Whatever that meant. Adam didn't think he was a bad person. He just didn't care enough to be a good one.  
“I never got what this guy has against me,” Adam said.

“You are such a jerk,” the boy answered. There was real heat in his voice. A kind of old, sad anger.

Adam guessed you didn't have to be polite to the freaking king of LA if you couldn't be killed. Adam could still make this boy's life a living hell if he wanted to. There were more painful ways to die than being drained by a vampire. Adam knew a few.  
“I wonder how creative I have to get until you _want_ to die.”

“That ship has sailed, Adam.”

“Stop calling me that!”

“That's your name,” the boy answered with a smile.

It was Adam's name, but not how he said it. It got under Adam's skin. He pushed away from the car and opened the door. “You gonna leave me here?”

“Yes. I'm sure you can find your way home.” He got in and slammed the door shut. He needed to think. And he needed for Emilie to find out everything that there was to know about this guy. Starting with his name.

 

~6~  
“Ordinary human,” Emilie said with one look at the photo Adam had made while the guy had been out. There was that tone in her voice that told Adam one of her minions had pissed her off this morning.

“Everything but. I saw him die. And this doesn't leave the freaking room. Did I make myself clear?” he looked at Tommy, who shrugged. Tommy always looked like he couldn't care less that Adam was the king of LA. He was such a little shit. Adam liked him.

“It means we have to do research on him ourselves,” Emilie said long suffering. Adam had always the feeling she just waited for the right moment to kick someone's ass. He would bet everything he had that she was great at the whole ass-kicking business.

“Yes, I don't want this to be known,” Adam answered. He didn't have time to make background checks on people who looked human, smelled human, but weren't human. That was the reason why he had minions in the first place.

“The name's easy enough, you know?” Tommy said. He uncurled from Adam's ancient, fucking expensive sofa and looked at him. A gift from Beckett.

Adam was ready to strangle him. Right there and then. He raised an eyebrow instead. “Well?”

“His name is Kris. He plays at a bar every second Friday,” Tommy answered.

“How do you even know that? I just showed you the picture.”

“I happen to like that bar, Adam. He is good too. And I have a good memory.” Tommy shrugged.

“And there was nothing extraordinary about him?”

“He didn't feel anything but human to me. But you saw him die three times, I believe you. You are too young a king to have the crazies already.”

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Tommy.”

“Any time.”

“Mister Lambert,” Emilie cut in. She never used his first name.

“Yes?”

“How soon do you need this background check?”

“Yesterday would be lovely, Miss Autumn. But I guess I can just make Tommy buy me a drink at that bar.”

“Sure. If we get drunk enough, I might be persuaded to make out with you.”

“I'm not taking advantage of you,” Adam answered with a grin.

“You so would hit that ass, I know it,” Tommy said.

Emilie made a noise that was almost a laugh. “I will start on that as soon as I can, Mister Lambert.”

“Thank you Emilie,” Adam answered and let her go.

“You know, she likes you. Despite going all professional on your ass,” Tommy said.

“I like her, because she goes all professional on my ass. I only have to deal with three to five applications a week since she took over the department. I might love her.”  
Tommy laughed.

~+~  
“I didn't realise that your plan was to get killed as often as possible,” Jared said angry.

“I didn't plan on him killing me in the first place. But I admit it had been a possibility. At least he will remember me now.”

“He will take you apart, Kris,” Jared said and after a look at Kris,he added, “not in the good way.”

 _Guilty as charged_ , he thought. “I needed to do something. For my own good. I can't run away anymore. I think it was some kind of divine intervention that led me here.”

“It was Katy that made you come visit,” Jared said.

“Same difference,” Kris answered with a smile and got one in return.

“He is king of LA. He has people who can find out everything about you. Everything about us.”

“We can't be killed, Jared.”

“No, they don't know how we can be killed, Kris.” There was an unspoken 'yet' between them.

“I don't think he is interested in our people. I think it's about me,” Kris said.

Jared leaned his head against the back of the sofa and stared at the ceiling. “Why do you always need to do things in an all or nothing kind of way?”

“That's how I roll.”

“That's how I roll? Really, Kristopher?”

Kris laughed. “LA's making me a monster.”

“LA does that to people,” Jared said.

“You seem calmer since you got here. You seem calmer since you started the band.”

“There is only so much monster-hunting a person can take before they need a break.” Jared turned his head to look at Kris. “You started playing at that bar.”

Kris shrugged. It wasn't a big deal. The pay was next to nothing. Not that Kris was in it for the money. Kris didn't care much for money. He didn't need to either. When you were the smart kind of immortal, there was always an antique, a family heirloom in some vault somewhere you could sell. And besides their people looked out for their own.  
“Wanna come and listen?” Kris asked.

“I am a big fucking rockstar now, Kris. I can't just-”

“Oh shut up. I know you want to and I know you can.” He smiled. “There is a back-door and it is in that semi shady part of town. We might even see a real hooker!”

Jared laughed. “Really?”

“Really. Grab your keys and your big ass shades that don't fool anyone.”

Jared got up. “Let's have drinks afterwards. It's been so long since we could wallow in being shady.”

“What does that even mean?” Kris asked with a laugh.

“That I need to stop hanging around the house on my breaks, obviously, and live a little.”

“That's the spirit.”

 

~7~  
Kris nodded at Tommy and then at the new bartender, Ally and wondered if Tommy already had the guts to ask her out. Probably not.  
He grabbed the soda she offered him on his way to the backroom to tune the guitar and prepare mentally. Not that he really needed it.

When he came on stage half an hour later. He saw Adam next to Tommy. He filled it away for later and began his set.  
Kris was always completely absorbed in the music once he started to play, everything else just dropping away for a while.  
The applause was a minor shock to his system. Every time. He smiled and shook his head and made a beeline for Ally. Even Adam forgotten for a moment. He smiled at her as she slid a glass with water his way.

“Thanks.”

“Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be banging on producers' doors? Sending demo-tapes to indie labels?” she asked.

He shook his head. It wasn't that easy. It would never be again. And this here was enough. Kris knew that Jared had a plan for when his time would come to exit the stage. It was a plane-crash with no survivors. He was taking lessons already and would buy a small machine soon. Jared knew how to disappear.

“You play the guitar,” Adam said behind him.

Kris turned on the stool slowly. “And the piano,” he answered and smiled at Tommy, who was standing behind Adam. “You didn't tell me you were working for Adam.”

Tommy shrugged and then sat down on the stool beside Kris. “It never came up. And besides I didn't think it would matter what I do to pay the bills.”

“It doesn't,” Kris answered, because it really didn't matter. Tommy wasn't a vampire. Kris wasn't sure what kind of supernatural being Tommy was, and he didn't care.

“You didn't tell me you knew Adam,” Tommy said.

“It didn't come up. And maybe knowing each other is said too much.”

Tommy laughed. “Well, you sure as hell have his attention now.”

“Tommy!” Adam said and Kris looked at him again. Adam looked back. Yes, Kris thought, he was a sucker for pretty eyes.

“I'm gonna leave you two alone,” Kris said, getting up with a smile at Ally. His set was done, his water glass empty. Jared was probably making a hole in the carpet, because he was worried again.

“I'm walking you to your car,” Adam said.

“You don't need to,” Kris answered.

“I insist, Kristopher.” Adam grabbed his jacket and Kris his guitar case. He was suppressing a shiver. He always liked it when people he liked called him Kristopher.

“If you insist, Adam,” he answered and saw Tommy smile into his drink as they left.

~+~  
The parking lot was empty of humans at this time of night. Most people still partied it up inside. The night was warm and still and Kris was quiet beside him.  
Adam had no idea what he even wanted to talk about with Kris.

“How do you know me?” he asked, not looking at Kris.

“You're king of LA.”

“You don't know me that way. You know me differently. You knew me before I was king of LA. How?”

“You killed me, Adam.” Kris answered matter of fact.

Adam had killed so many people. “I know, three times.”

“Four,” Kris said and looked at Adam. Adam could feel his gaze on his own skin. Burning.

“No, three times. Once months ago in that alley and then twice a few weeks ago when I wanted to get rid of your body.”

“I remember. There was kinky talk about chaining me up in your basement.”

Adam wouldn't put it that way, but yeah. There had been talk about chaining and basements. “I was talking about using you as my personal blood-slave.”

“You were threatening to torture me for all eternity,” Kris corrected. And he never backed down, looked at Adam's face all the time. Kris put the guitar in the trunk and then leaned against his car. “There is nothing you can do. You've done your worst already. You killed me.”

“I know! But it doesn't stick. You can't die. How can you not die?” Adam asked frustrated.

“That's the potential with what I was born.”

“But what are you? How are you that way?”

“Our people don't have a name for it. We just are and only a violent death can trigger immortality,” Kris explained. “You killed me.”

And suddenly the pieces started to come together. This here was Adam's doing. He made Kris. Adam had never, ever wanted to make another vampire. He had been fucking bored with life, with afterlife, with everything. He didn't wish that on others. He stuck to that rule. But here was Kris and he wasn't a blood-drinker, but he was immortal. He couldn't die and he couldn't live a normal life either and Adam had done it.  
“And I hated you for it.”

Adam grabbed Kris' arm too hard and Kris winced. He let up, but didn't let go. “Do you still?”

Kris shrugged. “Sometimes. You are a jerk and you believe in nothing. You don't care about people.”

“And you do?” Adam asked, but he knew the answer already. It was written all over Kris' face.

“Yes. I do care about people. I hurt when they hurt, I am happy when they're happy, I am angry when something unbelievably unfair happens to them.”

“And I killed you.”

“Yes, but that's in your nature, Adam. I didn't hate you for feeding on me,” Kris said softly.

Adam let go of Kris' arm and stepped back, because he didn't want to know. He knew somehow that Kris wouldn't tell him, if he didn't ask. It was the coward's way out, but the deeper truth was, that Adam simply didn't want to care. He was invested in Kris too much already. He knew now what kind of being Kris was. Immortal. That was Kris and that should be enough.  
Kris didn't have abnormal feeding habits, he didn't have mating circles, he didn't kill people. No mess, not the king's responsibility. Kris was, except for the immortality, human and should be seen as such.  
Human concerns weren't the king's concerns.

“Enjoy your stay in LA,” Adam said and then for some perverse reason he added: “Kristopher.” And was rewarded with a shiver, a fluttering of eyelashes, a hint of suppressed desire. For a mad second he wanted Kris. Wanted that warm human body pressed to his, wanted those lips on his, wanted to feel the beating heart under his palm, wanted to hear pants and hitched breathes. And he knew that some part of Kris wanted it too.

“I hope it will be less painful from now on,” Kris answered and turned to get into the car.

Adam was fast, he could stop Kris, he could stop him and press him against the metal of the car and kiss him and then take him home and devour- No.  
That wasn't the kind of person Adam was. That wasn't the kind of vampire Adam was. There was feeding and there was fucking and he didn't mix them.  
He watched Kris' car leave the parking lot and then he went inside to get royally drunk.

 

~8~  
“You're getting creepy,” Emilie said, putting a small pile of files on his desk.

Adam shoved the pages he had been reading aside. It was the background check on Kristopher. He had read it a million times already. The paper was worn thin in places. She was right, he was getting creepy. He was turning into a teenage novel vampire. On the other hand, Kris wasn't just a human being. He was more than human. He was- what the hell ever. Adam needed to get a fucking grip.  
“What's this?” he asked, eyeing the new files.

“You know you should just get it out of your system. You killed him, it didn't work. You need to get over it or you could try to fuck his brains out, if he lets you.” There was something sharp in her voice.

“I'm big on consent when I fuck,” Adam felt the need to say. A lot of vampires weren't. And there weren't any punishments for rape done to humans by vampires. Yet. Adam always wanted to have laws for that. Rules and guidelines made the kings’ life easier. Maybe Emilie could come up with something that would work for all supernatural beings. It wouldn't be an easy task, but she was just the woman for that. She didn't care if she was liked, she cared about getting the job done as best as she could.

“Good to know. As for the files. Missing person reports.”

“Don't we have people for that? The police?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “We do and they do handle these kinds of things. But these are different.”

“Your spider senses are tingling?”

She gave him a look. “Mister Lambert,” she said – and here he thought she had been warming up to him. “These people are wives, mistresses, husbands etc. of officials.”

“There are only three so far and one isn't even sure if his mistress didn't just leave him. Apparently she's done it before.”

“So you think it shouldn't be any of our concern?” she asked.

“Of course it is our concern. Supernatural beings are our concern and when they go missing we try to find them. And by we I mean the freaking police.” He looked at the files again. “One of them is human for god's sake!”

Her eyes turned hard. “My boyfriend is human, Mister Lambert.”

“And are you concerned about your boyfriend's safety because you're working directly under the king of LA, Miss Autumn?”

“No, Mister Lambert, my boyfriend could kick your ass. I'm concerned about yours.”

“I don't have-”

“Spare me the lies. I know you're sitting in that bar and listening to him sing and play. I know you meet 'accidentally' on the street. I know you stalked his coffee-place. How do I know that? Because it's my job to know that, Mister Lambert. And you aren’t very secretive either.”

“There isn't any pattern. People disappear and sometimes they don't leave a note. Besides these cases are months apart. That human? That was last month. Could be on vacation, or dead.”

“I call three missing loved ones of officials a pattern.”

He wanted to smash her head in. He took a breath instead. She waited him out. “Take them. If you can come up with something solid-”

“Body parts?” she threw in.

“Something solid, then I will start an official investigation.”

“I'm holding you to it, Mister Lambert.”

“That would be all, Emilie,” he answered.

It was official: he hated William Beckett. _Emilie is bored with Chicago._ My ass, he thought.

~+~  
Kris wasn't stupid, he knew what Adam was doing, even if Adam maybe didn't know what he was doing.  
They were meeting ‘accidentally’ and they would talk for a few minutes at first and then they would sit down at a table in Kris' favourite coffee-place and talk more, longer.  
Kris was waiting for Adam to ask him out. And then? He had no idea. There had been a plan at the beginning of this. But it hadn't been all thought through. Making Adam care was one thing, but what came after? Kris wasn't sure he could do that again. He had lied when he had said Adam did his worst already.

He played with the bottle of beer in his hand and stared through the big French windows until Jared came home from his brother's.

“Your plan isn't working like you thought it would, is it?” he said, sitting down on the floor next to Kris.

“The plan had been to make him care about me and then there was this vision of me leaving his sorry ass to go on a 50 year long mission in Africa. Because nothing makes you more human than a broken heart.”

“But you're falling all over for him.”  
Kris shrugged. He was falling for Adam again, but then he had always had lingering feelings for Adam. Muted and buried. Like a box in a house you didn't live in anymore. Sometimes you still remembered that you left it there. Maybe for someone to find.  
“Leave his sorry ass now, Kris. Get out of LA.”

“It would be running away.”

“He will be here for the next 13 years at least. It would be taking a freaking vacation from this madness.”

“You never liked him.”

“That's not it,” Jared said. “I never liked that he was a jerk and an immortal blood-sucking jerk on top. I never liked that he didn't care or had any respect for the lives he took.”

“Jared-”

“I am glad you are immortal, though, because life without you would be so boring.”

“You've always seen immortality more like a gift than a curse.”

“Don't even pretend, you're seeing it as a gift too.”

“I honestly didn't. When he killed me, when I was brought back and realised he didn't care. He didn't love me. When I realised that I had to face eternity on my own, without him, I had been sure it was a curse. Damned to be heartbroken forever.”

“Nothing lasts forever, Kris.”

“We do,” Kris answered, and it was as close to truth as it could be. Their people didn't kill themselves and no one outside the clan knew how to do it. They were the only true immortal beings on earth.  
Kris had thought that he would go mad with the disappointment, anger and hatred and self-hatred the first few years, but he didn't. He dealt. Self-preservation and the sheer need to turn this evil thing into something good kept him going. And he learned to be happy. To like being alive. He had fallen in love, he had lost. Life went on.

“We do,” Jared said, “but every single one of us paid for it with blood.”

Kris nodded. Death was never easy and the first one was the hardest. It left you scarred and emotionally unbalanced for years. You watched your family die, you watched your friends die, you watched the house you were born in turn to dust.

You paid for eternity every day. Or at least, Kris thought, you should.

 

~9~  
“Kris, what the hell? I swear, if you let him kill you again, I am calling Katy, I will pack your bags and put you on a plane and force you to work through your issues with this shit,” was the first thing Jared said as Kris came home. He had had to look worse than he thought.

It was true too. Kris let Adam do all these things. Granted, their kind of immortality didn’t come with any super strength or power, but Kris came from a line of hunters. He knew how to get out of these kinds of situations. And he had the knife. Kris didn’t know if it was magic or an ancient kind of poison, but if you used it right it gave you 10 minutes. 10 minutes to get out of there or call for back-up, so you could gut and burn the monster to ashes.

“Do you carry the knife?”

“I still have it.” Kris had never had to use it before.

“That’s not what I asked, Kris. Carry it. Especially here. Especially in your state of mind.”

“You’re saying I’m insane?” Kris asked.

“I’m saying I’m fucking worried. You have to see that this isn’t healthy.” Jared snapped.

Kris nodded. He knew it wasn’t healthy. He didn’t know why he was still trying. “I didn’t let him kill me,” Kris answered.

“What did you let him do?” Jared asked carefully.

Kris looked up at him then. He swallowed. “I-“ and he couldn’t say it. He balled his hands to fists and tried again, but the words still wouldn’t come.

“Fuck, Kris,” Jared answered and pulled him into a hug. Kris clung to Jared for dear fucking life.

It hadn’t been awful. It had been good, that was maybe the problem. But Kris knew how people kissed who were in love, who cared about each other. Adam kissed with passion and desire, and hunger. He had wanted Kris, still wanted Kris. Adam had wanted to bury himself as deep inside Kris as he could and Kris let him, had wanted it too. Had dreamed about it, had imagined it, had fantasized about sex with Adam for years, decades (now and then, but if eternity is your life goal, now and then could be summarized to decades). It had been fucking glorious. Adam’s hands and mouth and fingers and the way he said Kris’ name: breathy, desperate, broken. The way he had asked ‘can I?’ with his lips and a hint of teeth pressed to Kris’ inner thigh.

So why did Kris feel so fucking empty? He just wanted Adam to be the person Adam pretended to be when they first met. But Adam hadn’t ever been that person. And Kris wasn’t sure how long he could live like that. Only on hope that Adam would see the world in a different light, that he would learn to care for people as individuals. That he would care for Kris as a person. Not a science project.

“I need you to show me how to use the knife properly. Just in case,” Kris whispered.

“Sure,” Jared answered and hugged him a bit tighter.

~+~  
“The human husband was found dead,” Emilie said, throwing photographs on Adam’s desk.

“Okay?” he gathered the pictures up and looked them over. The guy was dead alright.

“In her backyard, Mister Lambert. So she would find him.”

“The other missing persons?”

“We didn’t find pieces of them yet, if that’s what you mean, but I guess it is just a matter of time. These are from yesterday night.”

“Any specific meaning to the date?”

“Not as far as we know. It could have a meaning to the killer. Amanda is furious. She demands an investigation and soon she’ll want revenge and your head.”

“She can have the investigation. I’m keeping my head.”

“This is not a joke.”

“It isn’t one to me either. If someone is slaughtering supernaturals and their spouses, then it’s fucking serious business.”

“What about Kris?”

“What about Kris?” Adam snapped. Kris hadn’t answered a single one of Adam’s fucking calls the last few days. Not since they had sex. And Adam couldn’t concentrate properly on his work, because all he wanted was to sink his teeth into Kris’ body, all the delicious fleshy parts, where he could suck the blood to the surface and- fuck.

“Are you going to warn him? Tell him he should be careful? Maybe leave the town for a while.”

“You should,” Tommy threw in from the door. Tommy was a ninja; he was so fucking silent not even vampires could hear him enter if he didn’t want them to. “I like him. He shouldn’t be caught in the middle of this because you can’t keep your dick in your pants.”

“He can’t fucking die! And it's none of your business where I stick my dick if it isn’t your ass.”

“Adam,” Emilie said carefully. Wow, it only needed a meltdown from him to make her use his first name.

“Are you okay?” Tommy asked.

“Fuck,” Adam said, running a hand through his hair. He was not. But what did it matter? He was king of LA and they had a potential serial killer running free. Everything else had to wait for now. “I need a fucking moment and then we can – I have no idea. Call our people at the police. Give them what we have. Make sure this has absolute priority. Do I need to visit the widow?” he asked, looking at Emilie.

“It would look good,” she admitted. “Nothing public. Just make sure she stays out of it. She has connections to the underworld. We don’t want them involved. We don’t want a mess, or a panic.”

“In other words; we don’t want anyone to know about it.”

“We don’t,” she said.

“I still think, and I realise it’s a touchy subject, that you should tell Kris,” Tommy threw in. “There are worse things than dying. We don’t know if his limbs will grow back, what starvation does to his body or what kind of pain he can-“

“I get the picture,” Adam cut in. “Make an appointment with Amanda and get this thing rolling. I don’t want anyone else pissed at me because of it,” he said, dismissing them. “Keep me posted!”  
Emilie gave him a look, but nodded.

Adam took a deep breath to calm the fuck down and then grabbed the phone. He needed to talk to Kris. He needed to see Kris. If he was honest; he really, really needed to fuck Kris again. Possibly for hours. And then lock him up in his mansion and throw the key away.  
Or maybe he needed an appointment with a good shrink.

 

~10~  
Adam had the best minions in the world, he thought as he banged on Jared Leto’s secret hideout place.

“What the actual fuck?” Jared said,opening the door and nearly slammed it in Adam’s face again a second later. But Adam didn’t need more than a second. “You’re not welcome here.”

“Oh believe me, I know. I need to talk to Kris.”

“He’s not here,” Jared said.

“Do you mind if I take a look?”

“I fucking do.”

“Great thing that vampires don’t need to be invited then,” Adam answered and pushed Jared aside.

“I know, and I could have gutted you five minutes ago.”

“Why didn’t you? I know you want to.”

“It would make Kris sad. You being alive doesn’t make him happy, but your death would probably send him over the edge.”

“Your people can’t die.”

Jared looked stubborn. “There are worse things than death.”

“Wow, you really hate me. Why?”

“You are such a self-centred jerk, Lambert. You killed him.”

“Yes. But he said he didn’t hate me for that, because it’s in my nature and you,” he cocked his head a bit, “you don’t hate me for that either.”

“I did, believe me, I did. But you’re right. You did so much more damage. Not that you cared. He was just another boy, just another kill. He believed in you, he loved you and after you killed him we weren’t sure he would pull through-“

“You guys can’t be killed for god’s sake!”

“The first death is always ONLY a possibility. You have to want to live through the pain and transformation. You need something to live for and Kris wasn’t sure there was anything left after you betrayed his love, because I know you knew he was in love with you.”

“We probably only knew each other for a week! You don’t fall for someone in a week.”

“You can fall for someone in a heartbeat, Lambert,” Jared said, “well, maybe not you.”

Adam had been in love once. He had been human then and it hadn’t ended well. Love was overrated. Love was an illusion; wrapped in obsession, desire and pain.  
“Where is Kris?”

“Gone.”

“He’s not in the city?” Adam asked.

Jared gave him a look. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded to know.

Adam really wanted to brush him off, because Kris wasn’t even in the city. He wasn’t in any danger. But he wanted to make sure- and he didn’t look too closely at the reason why. “Did you hear from him?”

“The reception in the jungle is shit,” Jared said.

“But you’re sure he left the city,” Adam wanted to know.

“He packed his bags, he got in the car – I didn’t hear from him since the day before yesterday, which wouldn’t be a concern if it weren’t for you being here and asking all these questions. I have means of making you talk.”

”I’m king of LA” Adam answered, because he believed Jared. Leto was the hunter Kris could never be.

“You were never my king.”

Which was so very fucking true, mostly because no one even knew their kind of supernatural existed.  
“We have a serial killer at our hands. He targets spouses of officials-“

“Your court. How many victims?”

“Three.”

“And you are king of fucking LA and Kris loves you. You put him in danger.”

“We are not-“

“Shut the fuck up! You stalked his coffee-place. If your killer has half a brain, they must have seen you. Fuck you, Lambert. I really want to rip your heart out right now, but that wouldn’t help Kris if that psycho has him.”

“He can’t die!”

“Is that your excuse for putting him in danger? In harm’s way on purpose? Because he can’t die? Because of you, he can’t live either.”

Adam didn’t put Kris in harm’s way. Not on purpose. He had been angry, granted, and maybe he had waited too long to tell Kris, after that one half assed attempt to call him.  
“Maybe we can track his phone down?”

“You have people for this and they found me, but you didn’t think of tracking his phone down before?”

“I-“

“I know. It wasn’t high on your priority list. You don’t care for people you feed on and Kris can’t die, right?”

“I will find him. I will save him.”

Jared smiled, but it was feral and made Adam almost take a step back. “He doesn’t need you to save him.”

~+~  
“Kris,” Adam said and his voice was soft, nearly melodic. It startled Kris anyway. He hadn’t expected Adam. He was waiting for Jared. He looked up sharply.

“I don't need you to save me,” he answered. There was blood everywhere. On the ground and his hands and the hunting knife Jared thought him how to use properly. He wanted to let it slip to the ground (where the cut out heart was lying), wanted it out of his hand, but his fingers didn't move.

“Maybe I need you to save me,” Adam replied.

“I can't be that person. I can't be that person anymore, Adam. I can't. Look what I did.” But what he meant was: look what I did for you; look what I did because of you. He took a deep breath and his grip on the knife became surer as Adam took a step forward. “Don't.”

“This is not your fault. It was self-defence-”

“I know! Should it make it easier? Maybe. Does it make it easier? No,” Kris said. “Killing shouldn't ever be easy, but you still don't get it. You still don't care.”  
Eternity wasn't ever meant for living, thinking, feeling beings. It only brought pain. It brought madness. But Kris couldn't change that anymore.

“Kris-”

“Don't. I mean it. I will use it and I will cut your heart out and burn you to ashes. I will, because right now I hate you like I did the night you killed me for the first time.” _You did this to me_ , he thought.

“Kris, give me the knife.”

Kris laughed. His mind was strangely clear like it hadn't been for years. Yes, he loved Adam still, but he hated him too. Probably more now. “No. I need it. It's the hunting knife of my people. We are hunters. We hunt things like this,” he gestured to the body on the ground, “things like you.”

Adam flinched. “That's not you.”

“That is me. That is what you made me. My love,” he spit the word out because it hurt, because it was poison, “my blindness, my faith in you. Maybe I did it to myself. You made it very clear that you didn't care, that you didn't love me the night all these centuries ago when you carelessly killed me. You couldn't even remember my face, Adam. And I still wanted you. I was selfish and stupid and this is what I got for it.”

“I could never forget your face now, Kristopher.”

And it was Kris now who flinched. Fuck Adam for playing dirty. “Because I'm covered in blood, because I reek of it. Because I killed someone.”

“No. Because you're heartbroken about it, because you're in pain.”

“I was in pain when you killed me again and again and again! Why do you care now?”  
Adam didn't answer. Kris smiled. He knew it was a nasty thing to look at, that smile. “You can't even say it. You're still killing me.”

“Kris-”

“Jared will be here soon. I used the phone in the office, because mine was smashed to pieces as she dumped my body. I'm sure you have people to clean this mess up, to explain it to the community. You are king after all.”

“Kris,” Adam tried again.

“I can't be here anymore. I am leaving this godforsaken city.”

 

~11~  
Maybe it had been good to come here, Kris thought, staring at his face in the mirror. There was nothing, not a single scar, but he still imagined he could feel the cuts when he touched it. It had been good to face Adam, it had been good to tell Adam. To find some kind of closure. Whatever that meant.

“Kris-“

“I shouldn’t have done it. I can’t die, but I couldn’t take it anymore,” Kris said, looking through the mirror at Jared’s concerned face.

“They would have killed her anyway,” Jared answered.

“You have a name?” He turned to look at Jared properly, leaning against the sink.

“Yes and a background file. Why do you think this will help you?”

“I just want to know who she was. What kind of person she had been before I killed her, before she went crazy.”

“It never makes it easier seeing them as people,” Jared answered.

“Said like Adam,” Kris said.

Jared winced. “I know, but it’s the truth. It won’t help you. Lambert told me her husband’s request had been denied. Three times.”

“He died?”

“Yes, it’s in the file. If you really want to read it.”

Kris wasn’t sure, but he would take it with him anyway, so he nodded. “Thanks.”

“Katy is going to get you at the airport. She says you should stay at her place for at least a year,” Jared said.

Kris smiled. “She would. I’m sure you told her everything and she wants to kill Adam now.”

“She’s a doctor,” Jared said.

“She’s Katy.”

“You won’t stay at her place for a year, will you?”

“No, I’m going to let her analyse my mind for a few weeks and eat her cooking, because she learned from my mom and then I will take the next plane to the Amazons.”

“What will you even do there?”

“Play the guitar and watch the stars and learn some local language or dialect or whatever. I don’t know yet. I just don’t think I want to be around ‘civilized’ people anymore. At least for a while.”

“You’re going to roam the wilderness and the centuries like an ancient Anne Rice vampire? That is your plan, Kris?” Jared asked with a small smile.

Kris pretended to think about it, but yeah, he would just do that. “I always liked Anne Rice’s vampires.”

“They’re not all the same,” Jared said.

“I know,” Kris replied.

“I will miss you.”

“I will send you dried flowers and bark at random intervals,” Kris promised.

“I’m holding you to that,” Jared answered and after a short silence “are you going to see Lambert?”

“He has to deal with this, sweep it under the carpet and I don’t have anything else to say to him.”

Jared nodded.

~+~  
“You’re hard to find,” Adam said. Kris turned around sharply, knife in hand.

“You look like shit,” Kris replied. His voice sounded like he didn’t use it often these days.

“That is what a guy like me wants to hear,” Adam answered. Kris looked beautiful, tanned and healthy. Alive. At peace. There was a blade of grass in his too long hair.

“What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you. Leto said you were in Arkansas, but as I arrived you were already gone and that doctor wanted to rip my head off. I don’t think she had been joking.”

“Katy? No, she hadn’t been joking at all.”

Adam sat down on the ground and buried his fingers in the earth. It smelled different here. Cleaner. Sharper too. “She likes you.”

“We go way back,” Kris said, and then: “What are you doing here? Don’t you have a district to look after?”

“I took a vacation for personal reasons,” Adam answered, not really looking at Kris.

“A vacation? I didn’t know kings could do that during the first 20 years. Isn’t that a trial period?”

“I called in a few favours. Beckett likes me. He keeps saying I’m his favourite,” Adam said.

“The king of Chicago?”

“Yeah, that one.”

“So, you took a vacation. When do you need to be back?” Kris asked. He was still standing too far away and he was still holding the knife, but loosely. He was relaxed now.

“I got four weeks.”

“In total,” Kris clarified. Adam nodded. Kris put the knife away and looked at Adam hard. “It must have taken you at least a week to get here from the nearest village on foot.”

“I’m faster than a human.“

“How long have you been gone, Adam?”

“Three years,” Adam answered, looking directly into Kris’ shocked eyes.

“Adam!”

“It’s okay. I left Emilie in charge. She’s queen temporally.“

“I bet she thought it was for a few weeks and not years.”

“It’s fine, I’m sending her mails and texts and she threatens to kill me, whenever I get a connection.”

“We’re in the deepest jungle! You left the city to look for me? Why?”

“I don’t know!” Adam said frustrated. The thing was that staying in the city hadn’t been an option without Kris being there too. It had made Adam crazy not knowing where Kris was. He had been constantly thinking about it all. And about Kris’ laugh and he missed listening to Kris playing the guitar and sing along to the car-radio and he had missed – a lot of fucking things about Kris. He had missed Kris.

Kris sighed. “And now you found me.”

This wouldn’t do, Adam realised. “You made the boredom bearable.”

“Wow, that’s what a guy like me wants to hear.”

Adam winced. “I mean, you made my life better. I-“ he bit his lip and Kris smiled.

“I get it. You were less bored with me around. And now your life has lost its meaning-”

“Oh shut the fuck up,” Adam answered with a laugh and threw a handful of soft earth at Kris.

“Wow, you really have no idea how this works, do you? You need to ask me out to some place nice and then-“

“Are you coming back with me then?” Adam interrupted.

Kris crossed his arms over his chest. “You come here to find me and now you want me to go back?”

“Or I can stay here with you,” Adam said, because asking Kris to go back for Adam’s sake was a dick move and he knew it.

“You would stay with me in the jungle? Where there is no nail-polish, showers or MTV?”

“If you want to roam the earth like some kind of Anne Rice vampire,” Adam said, getting up and stepping into Kris’ personal space, but not touching, “I’ll be your sidekick. I bet the jungle is fascinating.”

There was a smile playing around Kris’ lips. “You sure you won’t get bored?”

The strange thing was, that Adam really was sure he wouldn’t get bored. “Fascinating,” he repeated.

Kris leaned forward then. “You have no idea,” he said and then he kissed Adam, just a soft brush of his lips against Adam’s. It was unexpected. He smiled at Kris.

“See? I’m already freaking awed.”

Kris laughed.

 

End

 

**Bonus: I.**

“What the hell are you doing here?” Jared asked. He had the vague urge to slam the door in the king’s face, but he was also curious.

“I was in the neighbourhood.“

“Right,” Jared said.

“Can I come in?” Beckett asked. The funny thing was that Jared really thought he would just go away if Jared said no.

“Be my guest.”

“You are way nicer than Adam made it sound.”

“That’s because I am not nice to Lambert,” Jared answered, stepping aside so the king of Chicago could enter his house.

Once inside, Beckett waited for Jared to close the door and then followed him into the kitchen.

“Nice house,” Beckett said.

“Thank you, I will give you the number of my interior designer. Can I get you something?”

“Tea? Chai?”

“Sugar?”

“Yes, it just doesn’t taste the same with honey, you know?” Beckett answered, sitting down at the kitchen table.

Jared nodded and turned to prepare some tea. He could feel Beckett’s gaze on his every move.

“I couldn’t believe it at first, but I really, really wanted to,” the king said.

“What?”

“About you being a real immortal. About Kris being one. Of course, Adam couldn’t fall for anyone else. He had always had exquisite taste and was allergic to the ordinary.”

Kris, Jared thought, was anything but ordinary. He took the mugs and set them down on the table, shoving one over to Beckett.  
“He’s in love with Kris?”

“Hell yes. He just got a weeklong vacation, so he could fly to Arkansas and talk him into coming back or sleeping with him or whatever.”

Jared smiled, despite himself. It was always interesting to actually meet one of the subjects in his files. William Beckett, king of Chicago since 1839, was a nice enough vampire to have tea with.

“I don’t think Kris will make it that easy. He is pretty fucked up by all this.” By Adam, he thought, but there was nothing Jared could do except letting Kris do whatever he thought he needed to do and be there for him when he came back. Or called, or send a crow or whatever.

“Understandable. I am very sorry.” Beckett said and he sounded sincere.

“It wasn’t your fault. You are not king of LA. I blame, of course, Lambert.”

Beckett made a face. He looked really young, Jared thought, and pretty. Eternally boyish, eternally beautiful. Worth a sin or two until the end of time. Jared wasn’t fascinated by vampires as a rule. His job was to kill them when they stepped out of line, so he tried not to mingle, not to care for them as people. Beckett so obviously cared for him, though, was interested, had been for some time now. It threw Jared a bit off his game.

“He’s new at this king business. Give him time. He will be a good king.”

“He is a good king. This city is a good one to live in. But I am not sure if he is good for Kris.”

“Kris is good for him,” Beckett answered, which was very true, but it didn’t seem fair.

Jared nodded in acknowledgment and drank his tea in silence. “I am surprised,” he said after a long silence.

“Yeah? About what?”

“Why you don’t ask a million way too personal questions,” Jared said, setting his empty mug aside.  
Beckett mirrored his moves and then rested his chin on his hands. He smiled.

“You wouldn’t answer them today. You would probably put that knife to my throat if I tried anything.”

Jared smiled at him. He maybe would. “So?”

“I’m saving it all for when you want to tell me.”

Jared laughed. “That will never happen.”

“I have an eternity to wear you down, to woo you into it, Jared,” Beckett answered, getting up. Jared’s name sounded kind of forbidden the way Beckett said it. It made Jared’s heart stutter for a second. “And so have you,” he added as he extended his hand to Jared. “It was a pleasure.”

Jared shook it, it felt cool and small in his own fingers. “It was,” he answered and he meant it.

“Maybe we can have a midnight stroll at the cemetery soon? Or you could,” he leaned over lightning fast and whispered: “fuck me like the devil?”

Jared laughed.

 

 **Bonus: II**  
Adam had a million pale, nearly faded freckles. Everywhere on his body. Kris liked those on his lip and he loved those on his back and thighs and back of his knees.

“You’re staring,” Adam said. He didn’t turn around. Warm rain was running down his body, his feet were muddy from earth and he complained constantly that he would _never_ be clean again. “I miss real showers and soap that smells like flowers.” He sighed.

Kris bit his lip. “You look fine.”

“I used to look gorgeous, Kris.”

“You don’t need make up and clothes to look gorgeous,” Kris answered. Adam looked gorgeous now. Naked and wet, with rain running down his spine and over his ass. Adam turned then. His eyes were so, so blue and intense. Kris stood his ground. Adam hadn’t tried anything for months. He hadn’t been feeding on Kris either. Kris was sure he had hunted down some jungle-cats or natives, but he never fed where Kris could see. He didn’t lie about where he was going when Kris asked. He never let Kris forget that he was in fact a vampire. Kris didn’t want to forget. They were trying the whole talking and honesty thing out here where no one knew where they were or what they were.

“And you really mean it,” Adam said.

Kris nodded and stepped closer to Adam. Not touching, but he was sure Adam could feel his body heat. He reached out and ran his hand over the side of Adam’s neck and then the curve of his shoulder.

“Kris?”

“There are things I want,” Kris whispered.

“Everybody wants something,” Adam said.

“Maybe what I want isn’t what you want.” Kris looked into Adam’s face and Adam smiled at him.

“I owe you so fucking much-“

Kris let go and stepped back. “That is not-“ he took a deep breath. “This cannot be about you thinking you owe me, or that you deserve what the hell ever because you killed me and-“

“It’s not,” Adam interrupted, but he didn’t make contact.  
Maybe it was too soon still. But Kris ached for Adam’s body against his. He ached for Adam’s body under his.  
“It’s not. What do you want, Kristopher?”

“You’re playing dirty,” Kris answered.

“Always.” He took a step closer and linked his fingers with Kris’. “So?”

“I want to pin you down to the damp earth and inhale your scent, spread your legs and finger you for what might be hours. I want to watch you writhe and bury your hands in the earth and listen to you panting my name. I want-“

“Jesus,” Adam interrupted.

“But maybe this is not what you want,” Kris said.

“Basically you want to fuck the hell out of me in the dirt.“

“I don’t mean-“

Adam interrupted again. “I didn’t say no, I don’t think it’s your way of punishing me. I want you. Not having sex with you is torture.”

“Oh,” Kris said, he hadn’t been the only one then. He leaned in and kissed Adam and it had been meant to be chased and reassuring, but it got heated and dirty fast. Escalated in seconds to hands gripping at his waist and Kris’ fingers in Adam’s hair while they kissed. Licking and biting. Kris pushed a bit and Adam gave his mouth free to concentrate on his throat, his shoulder, licking and kissing, but not biting, not sucking. He was careful and sliding downward until he was kneeling in the soft, damp earth, looking up at Kris. Kris couldn’t help himself, he ran a finger over Adam’s lips. He had such a beautiful mouth. Adam smiled and flicked his tongue out to lick Kris’ finger and then sucked it in.

~+~  
“I’m a vampire. You can’t do any lasting damage with your cock, Kris.”

“It’s not about that and you know it,” Kris answered while now three of his fingers were sliding in and out of Adam’s body. Adam was feeling hot and on edge and wanted – something. Everything. This was going on way too long already, but he couldn’t and he wouldn’t rush Kris. Well, he would fucking try not to rush Kris.

He groaned low and Kris’ hand tightened on his hip. Adam was meeting every single thrust of Kris’ fingers now. He wanted to pull Kris in and make him fucking do it already. The road to hell was paved with good intentions.

“Do you want me to beg?” Adam said harshly.

Kris’ fingers stilled and Adam’s eyes flew open. “No,” Kris answered when he had Adam’s full attention. “I would never want you to-.”

“Maybe _I_ want you to make me,” Adam said and he wasn’t actually sure he wanted to, but something warm pooled in his stomach at the thought nevertheless. “Maybe I want-“

Kris leaned over and kissed a trail from the root of Adams cock to the tip, soft, lingering press of lips. Not enough pressure, but it did shut Adam up as he bit back a moan. Had been probably Kris’ intention.

“You taste like the jungle and rain,” Kris said against his skin as he was pushing in. It was a nearly smooth transition of fingers being replaced with Kris’ cock. Who knew, Adam thought. Kris moved and Adam slung his legs around Kris’ waist to pull him in deeper, to urge him on. Kris didn’t disappoint. He was so very, very good at this. Probably decades of practice with other people.

Possessive jealousy stabbed him in the gut and he grabbed Kris’ face with his dirty hands, stretching up, the angle shifting, but he didn’t care. He needed to have Kris’ mouth on his, needed to feel Kris’ breath on his lips, needed to catch that scent of hot blood and maybe press his lips to that delicious spot on his neck and make Kris shiver. Speed up. They were balancing on the edge anyway. Kris slammed into him hard and then again and again and it was so good. “Can you?” Kris breathed out.

“Yes,” Adam said and the answer would have been probably yes if Kris followed that up with: burn down Vienna for me. He let go of Kris, falling onto the damp earth and grass and crushing a million life forms by doing it and grabbed his dick and stroked himself so Kris could watch and fuck him through a glorious orgasm.

After he kissed Kris until Kris shoved him away, because he needed to breath, and then Adam rolled them over so he could look down at Kris’ stupidly beautiful face. Kris smiled and Adam never ,ever wanted to leave that freaking jungle. He would roam it for decades and centuries naked, hunting and fucking if Kris wanted this to be their life.


End file.
